MARTA passenger describes being on bus as it flipped

ATLANTA — The only passenger onboard a MARTA bus that flipped over on Sunday described the ordeal to Channel 2 Action News from his hospital bed.
 
Richard Bussey, 54, hopped on MARTA bus route 71 from the Kroger on Cascade Road in south Fulton County Sunday afternoon not knowing it would be a ride that would land him in the hospital.

As the bus traveled northbound on Kimberly Road, it flipped onto its side.

"We were going down the hill and the bus was going too fast," Bussey told Channel 2's Shae Rozzi over the phone while he was recovering in the Emergency Department at Grady Memorial Hospital.

He said the bus was scraping against branches on one side of the road, then crossed the center line and flipped.

"I was thrown around. I was trying to hold onto the rail and the bus turned on its side."

Bussey told Rozzi that he injured his back and one of his knees.

He said the bus driver came to the back to make sure he was OK and escorted him out through the broken-out windshield.

"She said her brakes went out," Bussey said.
 
Bussey told Rozzi that the driver saw other cars coming toward them and tried to run the bus off the road to keep others from getting hurt.

Bussey said he was very scared, but thanked the Lord that he was okay.

The unidentified bus driver stayed at the scene while MARTA and Fulton County police investigated the crash.

A MARTA spokesperson told Rozzi that it is standard procedure to require the driver to undergo a blood test to ensure that no drugs or alcohol were in her system. The bus will be inspected to determine if the brakes failed as the driver claimed.

WSBTV